Canada is warming on average at a rate twice as fast as the rest of the world, the effects are already evident, and it's going to intensify.

A government report suggests that many of the effects already seen are probably irreversible, such as the loss of snow and ice which increases absorption of solar radiation and causes larger surface warming than in other regions. 

"While both human activities and natural variations in the climate have contributed to the observed warming in Canada, the human factor is dominant," according to the report.  "It is likely that more than half of the observed warming in Canada is due to the influence of human activities."

Canada's annual average temperature has increased by an estimated 1.7 C degrees since 1948, and the Arctic is experiencing the greatest temperature rise, warming at more than double the global rate. That puts Canada in a very uncomfortable position regarding its goals under the Paris Climate Accord, which seeks to limit global warming to "well below" 2 C degress above pre-industrial averages and "endeavour to limit" them even more, to 1.5 C degrees.

"This is yet another reaffirmation of the urgency of this problem," said University of Toronto professor Matthew Hoffmann, "People are starting to feel climate change - it's starting to be part of their lived experience."